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ASTR116/116H Introduction to Astronomy

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Astronomy 116H Research Projects - Spring 2005

Due dates for Project 1

1. Selection:  Read and select your primary article:  Wednesday February 9
2. Research:  Research and write report.   Essay due:  Wednesday March 9
3. Presentation:  In class presentations (8 minutes):  Monday March 14

Due dates for Project 2

1. Selection:  Read and select your primary article:  Wednesday March 30
2. Research:  Research and write report.   Essay due:  Wednesday April 27
3. Presentafion:  In class presentations (8 minutes):  Monday May 2

Procedure

• Go to the online ASTR 116H Introduction to Astronomy page and link to the ASTR116H Research Projects page (this page):   http://sem.cypresscollege.edu/~astronomy/courses/astr116/project.shtml
• Select a topic to research and a primary article to study from the list below.  Choose a more recent article.
• If you want to use a primary article not on the list, get prior approval from your instructor.

• On the Selection deadline, be prepared to tell your instructor what your topic and your primary article.
  
• If you selected an article from Magnificent Cosmos (A special Scientific American issue),  also read the related CONNECTION sheet and do the exercises and experiments listed.  You should discuss the results in your essay and in your oral presentation.

• Research the topic at the library and on the Internet. 
  
• Each student:  Write your own essay in your own words.  See essay guidelines below.

• Submit your entire essay (from cover sheet to list of references) using both of the following two methods:

1. Paper copy that includes all references.  Be sure it  is easily readable, i.e. the ink is dark enough.
2. Go to http://turnitin.com  ->  If you have an account, enter email address and password, otherwise select New to Turnitin.  Follow the online instructions.  Enter the class ID and password supplied by your instructor.  Submit the essay by midnight of the day the paper essay is due in class.

In its commitment to academic honesty, Cypress College uses Turnitin.com software to prevent and detect plagiarism. The instructor reserves the right to submit student assignments to Turnitin.com to check for textural similarities between those assignments, Internet sources, and the Turnitin.com assignment database.  Assignments submitted to Turnitin.com will become part of their database and will be used only for plagiarism prevention and detection.  Students may also be required to electronically submit their written work for plagiarism checking.  Students agree that by taking this course, all assignments are subject to the above plagiarism prevention and detection processes.

(Skip this step)  Email  your entire essay with list of references to RArmale@CypressCollege.edu or on a disk (Windows or Mac in MS Word, RTF, or Text only format).  In your Email, put ASTR116H Project by (your name).  Send a copy (CC) to yourself and look at it to see what I got.  If it looks wrong (such as it has strange characters), you need to fix it and email a corrected copy.

• Prepare your oral presentation.  It should take 5-8 minutes.  See below for tips.
• Inform your instructor ahead of time if you need an overhead projector or anything else to set up for your presentation.
  

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Essay Guidelines

Your report must follow the following formats

• 1) Your essay should summarize and analyze the primary articles you've read.
• 2) Your essay must be word processed, double spaced,  4-5  pages not including title or references (approximately 1000 words).

• 3) Typed using a clear dark standard font:  12-14 point, double space,  Do not use fancy, artistic, or calligraphic fonts.  At least one inch margins on all sides, 1.5 inches on the left side.   Number all pages sequentially using Arabic numerals: 1, 2, 3, etc.  Staple your report in the upper left corner.  Use white paper only on one side  Include a title page with your name, class, date, and all team members’ names.   The title page is not numbered

• 4) Divide into introduction-body-conclusion sections.

• Introduction
• 5) The introduction should have one clear statement of purpose, the thesis statement.  It should explain what this essay is about.  Indicate the scope or depth of the report, and limitations or points excluded.  For example:  "In this essay I will explain why robots, not humans, should explore space."  
• Clearly specify the 3-4 major points, topics, or claims you'll discuss in the essay.

• Body (give a title to each section)
  

• 6) Divide the body into sections (several paragraphs each) with descriptive titles if necessary.  Discuss the same 3-4 topics in the same order you listed in the introduction.

• 7) Make claims of your viewpoints and support them with evidence.  Be specific.  Use examples.

• Conclusion
• 8) The conclusion should reiterate the statement of purpose,  summarize, and restate the 3-4 key ideas.  You should also suggest future research.

• You may number your titled sections as follows 

 I  Introduction
II  Body
        IIA  Body key point A
                IIA1  Key point A subpoint 1
                             IIA1i,     IIA1ii, IIA1iii
                IIA2  Key point A subpoint 2
        IIB  Body key point B
III
IV  Conclusion

Leave at least one blank line between sections to improve readabiltiy.

• 9) The essay should be clear, concise, and concrete.
• 10) Check your spelling, grammar, and punctuation.  Leave 2 blank spaces after every period.
• 11) Define all key terms.  Your audience members are your classmates who are familiar with this subject but they are not experts.

• 12) Avoid long paragraphs (more than five sentences). Avoid long sentences.

• 13) All figures should have a title and caption that is understandable independent of the text.  They should be numbered sequentially, and referred to at appropriate points in the text.
• 14) Have someone else read your last draft.  Then, make any needed clarifications or corrections.  I strongly recommend you do this especially if your English  writing skills are poor.
• 15)  If you make a poster, give it a title, and put your name on it.  Your instructor will use it in the class project display.
  

References guidelines

• 16)  Include a list of at least five references on a separate page titled References.
• In Scientific papers, it is not customary to put references at the bottom of the page where the reference is made.  
  

• You may begin your list with your primary article as reference 1, then list the others (at least 4 more) in order first mentioned in the text.  In any case, number your references and list them in the same order they appear in the text of the essay.
• At least TWO references must be from an acceptable scientific or astronomy journal NOT from the Internet.  This should be in addition to the primary article.  Encyclopedia, a  dictionary, and your textbook may be used and referenced, but you need to find 5 others that are full articles.   
• Use original sources whenever possible.   
• Include a legible copy of the first page of each reference article, which should show title and author.
• At least one reference must be from the Internet from a credible site like NASA.  Include the URL and print the first page of the website and attach it to your report after the Reference sheet.  Be sure to show (or  PRINT by hand) the URL at the top of the page.
• All references must be numbered and you must mention them in the body of the essay in the same order you list them.  In the text you may indicate a reference with a superscript such as ¹ or  use brackets such as [1].
• On the first page of each attached reference, PRINT CLEARLY BY HAND the reference number which should match your list.
• In addition to your 5 references, you may include another list of research articles that you've read, but  you did not mention in the text.  List those under the title:  Further Reading.  You need not include a copy of these.

Examples:

Text:      “With a 100-year engineering effort, we could transform Mars into a planet where plants from Earth could survive. But would the greening of Mars be ethical?”¹  In this essay we discuss the teraforming of Mars.²  Mars and not the Moon is the next frontier.

References

[1]   Christopher P. McKay, “Bringing Life to Mars,” Scientific American Presents, p. 52,  Spring (1999).

[2] Author Names, “Article Title,” Journal Name, Page number, Month/Week/Season  (year).

Web article examples

[3] Author Names (Indicate  "Editors"  if not listed), “Web page or article title,”  Source or web publisher such as NASA, Sky & Telescope, etc,  Date posted or updted.  URL.

[4]  Fienberg, Richard Tresch, "Your First Steps in Astronomy,"  Sky & Telescope online article,  (2003).  URL:  http://skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics/article_260_1.asp

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Grading

Grading is based on the following:

• Adherence to above formats and deadlines.
• Scientific accuracy and relevance.
• Appropriate references.
• Writing style and clarity, including organization, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
• Personal insight, opinion, and suggestions for future work.
• Oral presentation is worth 10% of the grade.

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Oral presentation and public speaking tips

Before the presentation

• Be prepared.
• Practice your presentation several times.  This is best done in front of an audience.  Ask your friends, siblings, parents, dog or cat, or do it in front of a mirror.
• Write out the main points you plan to present.  If need be write everything you plan to say.

• When you practice, time yourself for a 6-8 minute presentation.  After your 8 minutes, you may have 2 minutes to answer questions.

• Your audience are your classmates who are not experts on your topic, so be sure to define any terms they may not know.
• Your talk should follow your written paper:  introduction - body - conclusion.
• Your introduction sets the tone, so tell us what you are going to talk about.
• Arrive to class ahead of time so you are not rushed.  If you arrive late, do not interrupt a classmate's presentation.
  

During the presentation

• It's okay to be nervous.  It's also okay to tell your audience that you are nervous.  This actually helps you to connect with them and elicit empathy.
• Bring water to drink if needed.
  
• Make eye contact with your audience.

• Start by introducing yourself and Write the title of your report on the board.
• Speak clearly.  Project your voice to the back of the room.
• Don't mumble or say things such as:  "you know," or "it's like you know."  Try to speak in a conversational but formal manner.  It's okay to pause between each part.  Remember to breathe normally.

• Be confident.  Smile, it'll make you feel better.
• Focus on the people who are paying the most attention to you.  That will increase your confidence.
• If a person interrupts with a question, you may give a quick answer.  However, it is better to tell them to hold all questions until you conclude.
• Remember that your audience is on your side.  Your classmates want you to do well.

• When you are finished, ask if there are any questions.  Then, thank your audience for listening to you.
• Good public speakers got that way by plenty of practice.  So you'll get better each time you make a presentation.

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If a link below is out of date or is not available, go to the Issue Directory Page and search by month and year, or use Scientific American's Advanced Search and author name to locate the article.  If the article is not available online, go to the library.

Project 1 Articles

Astronomical Observatories and Telescopes

A Sharper View of the Stars: Scientific American: Feature Article:  March 2001
	March 2001 issue A Sharper View of the Stars A new generation of optical interferometers is letting astronomers study stars in 100 times finer detail than is possible with the Hubble Space Telescope By Arsen R. Hajian and J. Thomas Armstrong

                   Summary: Two well-separated siderostat mirrors track the target
                   star as Earth rotates and direct its light (yellow and blue) into a
                   series of mirrors. The Hubble Space Telescope reigns supreme for
                   taking crisp photographs of faint objects, but ground-based optical
                   interferometers can see, for the brightest stars, details 100 times
                   finer than Hubble can. Interferometers now coming into operation will
                   image stellar surfaces, multiple-star systems, clouds or disks of
                   material orbiting stars, and shadows....

Extreme Engineering:  Seven Wonders of Modern Astronomy  - Scientific American Presents: Feature Article:   December 1999
	November 1999 issue Seven Wonders of Modern Astronomy By George Musser

                   Summary: Little did I know at the time that such patterns would
                   make possible a radio telescope bigger than planet Earth. Because
                   radio astronomers deal with wavelengths measured in centimeters or
                   meters, rather than in millionths or billionths of a meter, they suffer
                   from such smearing more than their optical colleagues do. Six years
                   ago the National Radio Astronomy Observatory opened the
                   $85-million Very Long Baseline Array: 10 radio dishes scattered from
                   Hawaii to the U.S. Virgin Islands. .

Floating in Space Scientific American: Feature Article: November 1999
	November 1999 issue Floating in Space Balloons offer scientists a low-cost, quick-response way to study the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere and those of other planets By James A. Cutts and I. Steve Smith, Jr.

                   Summary: The Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) project will also

                   carry the hopes of many scientists who see balloon technology as an
                   economical means of studying the upper atmosphere and outer
                   space. Manned balloon missions helped the manned U.S. space
                   program by testing space suits and assessing human reactions to a
                   near-space environment. Building on balloon projects in the U.S.,
                   France and Japan, ULDB officials chose a pumpkin-shaped design over
                   the typical spherical design of most super-....

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Space Exploration

FEATURE ARTICLES August 2004 issue SPACEFLIGHT
Electrodynamic Tethers in Space
By exploiting fundamental physical laws, tethers may provide low-cost electrical power, drag, thrust, and artificial gravity for spaceflight
By Enrico Lorenzini and Juan Sanmartín

SPACEFLIGHT April 2004

Blastoffs on a Budget

By Joan C. Horwath

Private ventures seeking to make access to space easy and affordable see a big potential in small vehicles

Robots vs. Humans: Who Should Explore Space?
A Scientific American Debate:   April 1999

SIDEBAR
	April 18, 1999 Who Should Explore Space? Robots vs. Humans: A Debate By Francis Slakey and Paul D. Spudis

Read the two articles who's authors advocate either robotic or human space exploration.  Decide which is the better strategy and why.  Write an essay where you argue your position.

      Unmanned spacecraft are exploring the solar system more effectively than
      astronauts are. Recent advances in robotic technology are allowing probes to go
      to new places and gather more data.
      Francis Slakey

      Astronaut explorers can perform science in space that robots cannot.
      Humans are needed to study planets and moons in detail and to repair scientific
      instruments and other hardware.
      Paul D. Spudis

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The Way to Go in Space Scientific American Presents: Feature Article  February 1999

The Way to Go in Space By Tim Beardsley To go farther into space, humans will first have to figure out how to get there cheaply and more efficiently. Ideas are not in short supply

Also read:








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Making Money in Space; Scientific American  March 1999
Mark Alpert, issue editor
Search Scientific American Archive

      The space age won't really take off until businesses figure out ways to earn
      profits in orbit. Forward-looking entrepreneurs are exploring opportunities in
      space tourism, asteroid mining and research missions financed in part by
      commercial sponsors.

Commercializing the Moon
Scientific American Forum:  March 30, 1998
Search Scientific American Archive
Also read:  Home Sweet Home
Search Scientific American Archive
                   Summary: How should development of space resources proceed? A
                   minority against lunar commercialization expressed fears about the
                   potential abuse of moon resources. Commercial interests should be
                   allowed to exploit the moon, and by extension, other space resources.

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Planets:  Discovering New Worlds

Our Solar System

Mercury

Mercury: The Forgotten Planet; November 1997; by Nelson; 8 page(s)

The planet closest to the sun, Mercury is a world of extremes. Of all the objects that condensed from the presolar nebula, it formed at the highest temperatures. The planetÆs dawn-to-dusk day, equal to 176 Earthdays, is the longest in the solar system, longer in fact than its own year. When Mercury is at perihelion (the point in its orbit closest to the sun), it moves so swiftly that, from the vantage of someone on the surface, the sun would appear to stop in the sky and go backward--until the planetÆs rotation catches up and makes the sun go forward again. During daytime, its ground temperature reaches 700 kelvins, the highest of any planetary surface (and more than enough to melt lead); at night, it plunges to a mere 100 kelvins (enough to freeze krypton).

Venus

Global Climate Change on Venus;  Scientific American:  March 1999
 Mark A. Bullock and David H. Grinspoon
Not available online.  Find it at the library.
       Venus was not always a red-hot cauldron holding a cloudy soup
       of pressurized carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid. Roughly 800
       million years ago volcanoes repaved the planet's surface with
       lava and released gases that ultimately triggered a powerful
       greenhouse effect. Researchers have reconstructed how
       geologic catastrophes doomed Venus's climate.

Earth

Snowball Earth Scientific American: Feature Article:  January 2000
	January 2000 issue Snowball Earth Ice entombed our planet hundreds of millions of years ago, and complex animals evolved in the greenhouse heat wave that followed By Paul F. Hoffman and Daniel P. Schrag

                   Summary: With the chemical cycles that normally consume carbon
                   dioxide halted by the frost, the gas accumulates to record levels. The
                   heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide--a greenhouse gas--warms
                   the planet and begins to melt the ice. The unusual configuration of
                   continents near the equator during Neoproterozoic times may better
                   explain how snowball events get rolling.

December 2003 issue PLANETARY SCIENCE-  The New Moon Recent lunar missions have shown that there is still much to learn about Earth's closest neighbor By Paul D. Spudis

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Mars

FEATURE ARTICLES March 2004 issue PLANETARY SCIENCE
The Spirit of Exploration
NASA's rover fights the curse of the Angry Red Planet
By George Musser

June 2003 issue The Unearthly Landscapes of Mars The Red Planet is no dead planet By Arden L. Albee

Special  ISSUE: March 2000

Also read:  How to go to Mars.

PROPOSAL 2: A NEW APPROACH; To Mars by Way of Its Moons  Scientific American  March 2000 Also read:  How to go to Mars.

PROPOSAL 3: THE NEXT STEP  A Bus Between the Planets:
Scientific American: Feature Article: March 2000
                   Summary: Instead of a simple, alternating Earth-Mars-Earth-Mars
                   encounter sequence, this latest scheme would exploit creative celestial
                   mechanics to add "dwell time" at both Mars and Earth. In this plan the
                   single Earth swingby would become a multiple
                   Mars-Earth-Earth-Earth-Earth-Mars sequence of encounters [see
                   illustration above]. NASA now plans to use the Earth-Earth six-month
                   reencounter trajectory for the Mars Sample Return mission scheduled
                   for 2005 and for the CONTOUR Discovery science mission....
     Also read:  How to go to Mar

Bringing Life to Mars:
Scientific American Presents: Feature Article: March 1999
Christopher P. McKay
Search Scientific American Archive
Climate models suggest that human beings could transform the
Red Planet into a more Earth-like world using current technologies

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PLANETARY SCIENCE April 2004

The Hidden Members of Planetary Systems

By David R. Ardila

Planets sweep their orbits clean of the dust left in space by comets and colliding asteroids. Those telltale trails can help us spot planetary systems around other stars.

Jupiter

FEATURE ARTICLE -  The Galileo Mission to Jupiter and Its Moons: Scientific American: Feature Article:  February 2000
	February 2000 issue The Galileo Mission to Jupiter and Its Moons Few scientists thought that the Galileo spacecraft, beset by technical troubles, could conduct such a comprehensive study of the Jovian system. And few predicted that the innards of these worlds would prove so varied By Torrence V. Johnson

                   Summary: Few scientists thought that the Galileo spacecraft, beset
                   by technical troubles, could conduct such a comprehensive study of
                   the Jovian system. Electron beams course down the field lines that
                   connect Io to Jupiter's atmosphere; dense, cold plasmas permeate
                   the wake left behind Io by the magnetic field sweeping by. Galileo
                   Probes Jupiter's Atmosphere. .

Saturn

FEATURE ARTICLES June 2004 issue PLANETARY SCIENCE
Saturn at Last!
After a seven-year journey, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is preparing to unveil the mysteries of Saturn, its rings and its giant moon, Titan
By Jonathan I. Lunine

Neptune

FEATURE ARTICLES December 2004 issue ASTRONOMY
The Case of the Pilfered Planet
Did the British steal Neptune?
By William Sheehan, Nicholas Kollerstrom and Craig B. Waff "That star is not on the map!" These words of astronomy student Heinrich Louis d'Arrest rang through the dome of the Berlin Observatory on the night of September 23, 1846, and have reverberated through the institutions of astronomy ever since.

Pluto

FEATURE ARTICLE
	May 2002 issue Journey to the Farthest Planet Scientists are finally preparing to send a spacecraft to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, the last unexplored region of our planetary system. By S. Alan Stern

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Migrating Planets:
Scientific American: Feature Article:  September 1999 
http://www.sciam.com/issue.cfm?issueDate=Sep-99

         Summary: New evidence indicates that the outer planets may have
         migrated to their present orbits. In the familiar visual renditions of the
         solar system, each planet moves around the sun in its own
        well-defined orbit, maintaining a respectful distance from its neighbors.
         The orbital radii of the planets have been used to infer the mass
          distribution within the solar nebula. .
 

Planets outside our solar system

Giant Planets Orbiting Faraway Stars:
Scientific American: Feature Article:  Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
Search Scientific American Archive
Awed by the majesty of a star-studded night, human
 beings often grapple with the ancient question: Are we alone?

Giant extrasolar planets

FEATURE ARTICLE -  The Discovery of Brown Dwarfs: Scientific American: Feature Article:   April 2000
	April 2000 issue The Discovery of Brown Dwarfs Less massive than stars but more massive than planets, brown dwarfs were long assumed to be rare. New sky surveys, however, show that the objects may be as common as stars. By Gibor Basri

The Oort Cloud; September 1998; by Weissman; 6 page(s)

It is common to think of the solar system as ending at the orbit of the most distant known planet, Pluto. But the sunÆs gravitational influence extends more than 3,000 times farther, halfway to the nearest stars. And that space is not empty--it is filled with a giant reservoir of comets, leftover material from the formation of the solar system. That reservoir is called the Oort cloud.

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Project 1 or 2 Articles

Life in the Universe

 

FEATURE ARTICLE -  SEARCHING FOR EXTRATERRESTRIALS Scientific American: Feature Article:   July 2000
	July 2000 issue Where Are They? Maybe we are alone in the galaxy after all By Ian Crawford

            ummary: SUBTOPICS: Extraterrestrial Migration Resolving the
             Paradox? To the extent that planets are necessary for the origin and
              evolution of life, these exciting discoveries certainly augur well for the
              widely held view that life pervades the universe. This view is supported
              by advances in our understanding of the history of life on Earth, which
             have highlighted the speed with which life became established on this
              planet. .

FEATURE ARTICLE - Life's Far-Flung Raw Materials Scientific American: Feature Article: Materials : July 1999
	July 1999 issue Life's Far-Flung Raw Materials Life may owe its start to complex organic molecules manufactured in the icy heart of an interstellar cloud By Scott A. Sandford , Louis J. Allamandola and Max P. Bernstein

                  Summary: Even composed of only 10 percent carbon on average,
                   space dust brings about 30 tons of organic material to Earth every
                   day. Everywhere in space where these ice grains are seen, complex
                   compounds are forming®especially in the ultraviolet-rich regions
                   around young stars. He simulates the organic chemistry of comets
                   and interstellar ice grains and ponders their connection to the origins
                   of life. ..

Searching for Life in Our Solar System
Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998;  Bruce M. Jakosky
Search Scientific American Archive
             The more that is learned about our
             neighboring planets and moons, the more
             hospitable some of them look as havens for life,
             today or in the distant past.

Searching for Life in Other Solar Systems
 Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998;  Roger Angel and Neville J. Woolf
Search Scientific American Archive
             Worlds supporting life have characteristics
             that new generations of telescopes and other
             instruments should be able to detect, even from
             light-years away.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence:
Scientific American: Article: 1/97
Search Scientific American Archive
                   Summary: Are there civilizations more advanced than ours,
                   civilizations that have achieved interstellar communication and have
                   established a network of linked societies throughout our galaxy? In
                   our present ignorance of how common extraterrestrial life may
                   actually be, any attempt to estimate the number of technical
                   civilizations in our galaxy is necessarily unreliable. In our own solar
                   system, for example, there are three miniature "solar systems": the
                   satellite systems of the planets Jupiter (with....

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The Sun

April 2003 issue  ASTROPHYSICS -  Solving the Solar Neutrino Problem The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory has solved a 30-year-old mystery by showing that neutrinos from the sun change species en route to the earth By Arthur B. McDonald, Joshua R. Klein and David L. Wark

The Paradox of the Sun's Hot Corona; June 2001; by Bhola N. Dwivedi, Kenneth J.H. Phillips; 8 page(s)

On August 11, 1999, tens of millions of people across Europe and Asia were witness to one of the most beautiful spectacles in all of nature: a total eclipse of the sun. The two of us were among them. One of us (Phillips) watched from Bulgaria as the glaring disk of the sun was blotted out by the cool black moon, bringing forth the full glory of the gleaming corona. The other (Dwivedi) watched from India as the glaring disk of the sun was blotted out by a dull haze of clouds at just the wrong time. But all was not lost, for the spectacle in the heavens was replaced by one on the ground. Across the holy river Ganges, chants reverberated as vast crowds waded in and prayed for the sun god to reappear.

  SOHO Reveals the Secrets of the Sun:
Scientific American: Feature Article:  Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
Search Scientific American Archive
A powerful new spacecraft--the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO--is now monitoring the sun around the  clock, providing new clues about our nearest star

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Project 2 Articles

Stars;  Atoms, Fire, and Light

FEATURE ARTICLES November 2004 issue PHYSICS
Black Hole Computers
In keeping with the spirit of the age, researchers can think of the laws of physics as computer programs and the universe as a computer
By Seth Lloyd and Y. Jack Ng

FEATURE ARTICLES October 2004 issue ASTROPHYSICS
A Universe of Disks
New research reveals the dynamics of the spinning disks of gas that surround young stars and gargantuan black holes
By Omer Blaes

FEATURE ARTICLES January 2005 issue ASTROPHYSICS
The Midlife Crisis of the Cosmos
Although it is not as active as it used to be, the universe is still forming stars and building black holes at an impressive pace
By Amy J. Barger

FEATURE ARTICLES July 2004 issue ASTRONOMY
The Extraordinary Deaths of Ordinary Stars
The demise of the sun in five billion years will be a spectacular sight. Like other stars of its ilk, the sun will unfurl into nature's premier work of art: a planetary nebula
By Bruce Balick and Adam Frank

FEATURE ARTICLES October 2003 issue ASTRONOMY -  The Unexpected Youth of Globular Clusters Conventional wisdom says that globular star clusters are the stodgy old codgers of the universe, but it turns out that many of these clusters are young By Stephen E. Zepf and Keith M. Ashman

July 2003 issue ASTRONOMY -  The Galactic Odd Couple Why do giant black holes and stellar baby booms, two phenomena with little in common, so often go together?    By Kimberly Weaver

The Gas between the Stars:
Scientific American: Feature Article:  January 2002
January 2002 issue         Summary: For many years, we have known that an extremely thin
        atmosphere called the interstellar medium envelops our galaxy and
         threads the space between its billions of stars. Supernova explosions
         blow giant bubbles; fountains and chimneys may arch above the spiral
         disk; and clouds could be falling in from beyond the disk. These clouds
          fall back to the galaxy's midplane, completing the fountainlike cycle
         and replenishing the galactic disk with cool clouds from which star
         formation may begin anew..
 

V1974 Cygni 1992:  The Most Important Nova of the Century: Scientific American: Feature Article: Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
Search Scientific American Archive

                   Summary: Within hours of his report, we looked at the nova with the
                   International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite. In late 1993 the
                   low-energy x-rays coming from the nova's core ceased, indicating to
                   us that the nuclear explosion had run out of fuel. V1974 Cygni 1992
                   confirmed many of our ideas about novae--such as how the ejected
                   gases evolve--but also presented new challenges. .

Cosmic Rays at the Energy Frontier
Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998;  James W. Cronin, Thomas K. Gaisser and Simon P. Swordy
Search Scientific American Archive
             Atomic particles packing the wallop of a pitcher's fastball
             strike Earth's atmosphere every day.

Gamma-Ray Bursts
Scientific American: Feature Article: Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
Search Scientific American Archive
             w observations illuminate the most powerful explosions in the universe
            Summary: Gamma-ray astronomy elucidates the structure and
             evolution of the universe by means of the photons of greatest energy.
             The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, launched in 1991, uses
             complex detectors to catch photons in the energy range of 10 kilo
             electron volts to 30 giga electron volts (GeV). Future instruments,
             such as the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) planned
             for 2004, will survey the sky even more sensitively at higher energies.

FEATURE ARTICLE

December 2002 issue The Brightest Explosions in the Universe Every time a gamma-ray burst goes off, a black hole is born By Neil Gehrels, Luigi Piro and Peter J. T. Leonard Also see: GRB  Solving the Puzzle of Gamma-Ray Bursts By David Tytell,  May 29, 2003, Sky & Telescope. And  see: Gamma-Ray Bursts Scientific American: Feature Article: Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998 Search Scientific American Archive

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Galaxies

January 2004 issue ASTRONOMY - Our Growing, Breathing Galaxy Long assumed to be a relic of the distant past, the Milky Way turns out to be a dynamic, living object By Bart P. Wakker and Philipp Richter

Galaxies behind the Milky Way
Scientific American: Feature Article:  October 1998
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               Summary: RADIO TELESCOPE at Green Bank, W. Va., 91 meters (300
                feet) in diameter, was busy conducting observations on Nov. 15, 1988
               (left). Scientists at the National Astronomy Observatory say the dish
              collapsed when a metal plate in the main support gave way. The
              $75-million replacement, now under construction, will be a paraboloid
              110 by 100 meters; unlike traditional circular dishes, the new
              telescope will not have any support struts that block its view of the
               sky..

Colossal Galactic Explosions:
Scientific American: Feature Article: Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
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              Summary: Millions of galaxies shine in the night sky, mostmade visible
              by the combined light of their billions of stars. As the disk heats up,
             gas in its vicinity reaches temperatures of millions of degrees and
             expands outward from the galactic nucleus at high speed. The narrow
              radio jets that extend millions of light-years from the core of some
              active galaxies clearly suggest the presence of black holes..

The Ghostliest Galaxies:
Scientific American: Feature Article:  Magnificent Cosmos March 1998
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                Summary: It may well be that these faint, blue galaxies are
                low-surface-brightness galaxies in their initial phase of star formation.
                In 1997 our team measured nearly a dozen rotation curves of
                low-surface-brightness disk galaxies--which differ substantially from
                those of high-surface-brightness rotating galaxies.
                Low-surface-brightness galaxies may well have fundamentally different
                dark-matter distributions than normal spiral galaxies do. .

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Dark Matter (search the archive for other articles)

March 2003 issue PHYSICS - The Search for Dark Matter Dark matter is usually thought of as something "out there." But we will never truly understand it unless we can bring it down to earth By David B. Cline

Does Dark Matter Really Exist?; August 2002; by Mordehai Milgrom with commentary by Anthony Aguirre; 8 page(s)
File size: 264 KB

OF ALL THE MANY MYSTERIES of modern astronomy, none is more vexing than the nature of dark matter. Most astronomers believe that large quantities of some unidentified material pervade the universe. Like a theater audience that watches the herky-jerky gestures of a marionette and infers the presence of a hidden puppeteer, researchers observe that visible matter moves in unaccountable ways and conclude that unseen matter must be pulling the strings. Yet this dark matter has eluded every effort by astronomers and physicists to bring it out of the shadows. A handful of us suspect that it might not really exist, and others are beginning to consider this possibility seriously.

Dark Matter in the Universe:
Scientific American: Feature Article: Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
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                   Summary: It could even be a category of dark objects called
                   MACHOs (MAssive Compact Halo Objects) that lurk invisibly in the
                   halos surrounding galaxies and galactic clusters. Applying similar
                   principles to spiral galaxies, we infer dark matter's presence because
                   it accounts for the otherwise inexplicable motions of stars within
                   those galaxies. Given the strong evidence that spiral and elliptical
                   galaxies lie embedded in large dark-matter halos, astronomers now
                   wonder about the location, amount and ....

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Cosmology, the Universe and the Big Bang

Albert Einstein

FEATURE ARTICLES September 2004 issue GENERAL RELATIVITY
A Cosmic Conundrum
A new incarnation of Einstein's cosmological constant may point the way beyond general relativity
By Michael S. Turner and Lawrence M. Krauss

FEATURE ARTICLES September 2004 issue SPECIAL RELATIVITY
The Search for Relativity Violations
To uncover evidence for an ultimate theory, scientists are looking for infractions of Einstein's once sacrosanct physical principle
By Alan Kostelecký

FEATURE ARTICLES August 2004 issue COSMOLOGY String Theory and Dark Energy
Questions That Plague Physics: A Conversation with Lawrence M. Krauss
Lawrence M. Krauss speaks about unfinished business Chair of the physics department at Case Western Reserve University, Lawrence M. Krauss is famed in the research community for his prescient suggestion that a still mysterious entity called dark energy might be the key to understanding the beginnings of the universe. He is also an outspoken social critic and in February was among 60 prominent scientists who signed a letter entitled "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking," complaining of the Bush administration's misuse of science.

FEATURE ARTICLES May 2004 issue COSMOLOGY
The Myth of the Beginning of Time
String theory suggests that the big bang was not the origin of the universe but simply the outcome of a preexisting state
By Gabriele Veneziano

SPECIAL REPORT  February 2004

Four Keys to Cosmology

By George Musser

The big bang theory works better than ever. If only cosmologists could figure out that mysterious acceleration....

SPECIAL REPORT: COSMOLOGY

The Cosmic Symphony

By Wayne Hu and Martin White

Sound waves powerfully shaped the early universe

FEATURE ARTICLE -  Making Sense of Modern Cosmology
	January 2001 issue Making Sense of Modern Cosmology Confused by all those theories? Good By P. James E. Peebles

                   Summary: Confused by all those theories? Our framework for the big
                   bang theory is braced tightly enough to be solid. That the universe is
                   expanding and cooling is the essence of the big bang theory. .

A Unified Physics by 2050?
Scientific American: Feature Article:  December 1999
(Instructor note:  this article involves particle physics and fundamental forces of physics) 
http://www.sciam.com/issue.cfm?issueDate=Dec-99
                Summary: Experiments at CERN and elsewhere should let us complete
                the Standard Model of particle physics, but a unified theory of all
                forces will probably require radically new ideas. The Standard Model
                includes a field for each type of elementary particle that has been                       observed in high-energy physics laboratories [see the 'Standard
               Model' illustration below]. THE STANDARD MODEL of particle physics
               describes each particle of matter and each force with a quantum field.

Mapping the Universe
Scientific American: Feature Article: June 1999 

http://www.sciam.com/issue.cfm?issueDate=Jun-99
               Summary: But for cosmologists, those who study nature on its very
               largest scales, a galaxy is merely the basic unit of matter.
              Fortunately, a complementary technique can reliably measure
             clustering at large scales: harmonic analysis, also known as power
            spectrum analysis. THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL POWER SPECTRUM OF THE                  LAS CAMPANAS REDSHIFT SURVEY: Detection of Excess Power on 100                 H-1 Mpc Scales. .

FEATURE ARTICLE - Is Space Finite?
	April 1999 issue Is Space Finite? Conventional wisdom says the universe is infinite. But it could be finite, merely giving the illusion of infinity. Upcoming measurements may finally answer this ancient question By Jean-Pierre Luminet , Glenn D. Starkman and Jeffrey R. Weeks

The Expansion Rate and Size of the Universe:
 Scientific American: Feature Article:  Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
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                   Summary: Techniques for measuring the velocities of galaxies are well
                   established, but estimating the distances to galaxies has proved far
                   more difficult. During the past decade, several independent groups of
                   astronomers have developed better methods for measuring the
                   distances to galaxies, leading to completely new estimates of the
                   expansion rate. Nevertheless, astronomers have developed several
                   other methods for measuring relative distances between galaxies on
                   vast scales, well beyond Cepheid ....

The Self-Reproducing Inflationary Universe
 Scientific American  Magnificent Cosmos: March 1998
Andrei Linde
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             Our universe may be just one infinitesimal part of a
             "multiverse" in which branching bubbles of space-time
             contain different physical realities.

The Evolution of the Universe.
Scientific American: Article: 10/94
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                   Summary: Some 12 billion years ago the universe emerged from a
                   hot, dense sea of matter and energy. When the universe had
                   expanded an additional 1,000 times, all the matter we can measure
                   filled a region the size of the solar system. By the time the universe
                   had expanded to one fifth its present size, the stars had formed
                   groups recognizable as young galaxies..
 

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